New Zealand tour 2012

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John Griffiths is a widely respected rugby historian and is the author of several sports books, including The Book of English International Rugby, The Book of International Rugby Records, British Lions, The Five Nations Championship, Rugby's Strangest Matches and Rugby's Greatest Characters. He was a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph for 19 years and is co-author of the IRB International Rugby Yearbook. He has also provided insight for Scrum.com since 1999.

Welcome to the latest edition of Ask John where renowned rugby historian John Griffiths will answer any rugby-related query you have!

So, if there's something you've always wanted to know about the game we love but didn't know who to ask, or you think you can stump our expert - then get involved by sending us a question.

In this edition, John looks at Test captaincy queries, most Test points in a calendar year, Toulouse's first double season and players who made England Test appearances with a father and son.

What was Toulouse's first-class record in the 1995-96 season when they won the double of H Cup & French Championship? Tom, England

Toulouse were unexpectedly beaten by Nîmes 23-22 on the opening Saturday of that 1995-6 season in early September. The first-class fixtures in France started relatively late that year owing to the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa - the last RWC tournament to be staged in June - and several of Toulouse's returning stars were rested for the club's opening match.

The Nîmes fly-half Hervé Labat landed a late conversion of a try by winger Pierre Fra to pip a side that went on to do the double - win the French Championship and capture the inaugural Heineken Cup title.

But all told, Toulouse's record that year - Top 20 plus HC - was P 26 W 20 D 1 L 5. Their five defeats were in pool one games of the ten-team round-robin in their draw of the Top 20 of the French Championship. They were unbeaten at home but lost away 19-13 to Grenoble, 21-20 to Narbonne, 23-22 to Nîmes, 19-13 to Toulon and 23-11 to Perpignan.

Four of their wins were in the knockout stages of the Top 20 (ultimately winning the French Championship Final 20-13 against Brive to register their third successive French title) and another four wins were in the inaugural Heineken Cup (including the 21-18 success in the Final against Cardiff at Cardiff Arms Park).

I know Brian O'Driscoll (84) and John Smit (83) head the list for Test captaincies but which players have the most Test wins as captain to their name? Matthew Wheeler, England

The leading captains - Brian O'Driscoll (83 captaincies with Ireland and one in Tests for the Lions) and John Smit (83 Test captaincies for the Springboks) - also feature in the list of top winners which is headed, perhaps unsurprisingly, by New Zealand's Richie McCaw.

The skippers with most Test wins

Wins

Player

Team

69

Richie McCaw

New Zealand

54

John Smit

South Africa

52

Brian O'Driscoll

Ireland

44

Will Carling

England

41

John Eales

Australia

39

Sean Fitzpatrick

New Zealand

37

Martin Johnson

England

34

George Gregan

Australia

Further to the recent question about wingers as international captains, are there examples of notable props captaining international sides apart from the late Wilson Whineray? Edward Davies, Wales

Leading props as Test captains

Test

Captain

Team

30

Wilson Whineray

New Zealand

25

David Sole

Scotland

22

Massimo Cuttitta

Italy

19

"Ian" McLauchlan

Scotland

18

Ambrogio Bona

Italy

16

Pita Fatialofa

Samoa

15

Phil Vickery

England

13

Deacon Manu

Fiji

13

John Smit

South Africa

John Smit, who led South Africa in 83 Tests did so 70 times starting as a hooker and 13 as prop. The former Wallaby captain, John Thornett, led Australia 16 times in Tests. He was first capped as a flanker, moved to the second-row to lead the side in five of his Tests before ending his Test career as skipper eleven times as a prop.

There are several props with a dozen Test captaincies to their names, including Wales's Dai Young. (John Lloyd, Gethin Jenkins and Duncan Jones are the only other props who have led Wales in Tests since World War Two).

The leading Irish prop captain was Ray McLoughlin with a run of eight Tests as skipper in 1965 and 1966. The only other post-war props who have led the Irish are Simon Best, Nick Popplewell and Reggie Corrigan who each led twice as stand-ins.

For France, Robert Paparemborde led five Test sides in Jean-Pierre Rives's absence in 1980 and 1981.

What is the record for most Test points in a calendar year? James King, England

The first player to break the 180-point barrier in Tests in a calendar year was Neil Jenkins for Wales in 1994 when the Principality became the first Home Union that had to undertake a preliminary round of matches in order to qualify for Rugby World Cup finals (beating both Portugal and Spain to progress to the 1995 event in South Africa).

All told, the 180-point mark has been passed ten times with New Zealand's Dan Carter featuring three times on the list:

Leading props as Test captains

Points

Year

Player

263

1999

Neil Jenkins (Wales)

233

2003

Jonny Wilkinson (England)

219

2007

Percey Montgomerie (South Africa)

203

2008

Dan Carter (New Zealand)

196

1995

Gavin Hastings (Scotland)

194

2010

Dan Carter (New Zealand)

189

1996

Matt Burke (Australia)

186

2006

Dan Carter (New Zealand)

185

2010

Morne Steyn (South Africa)

181

1994

Neil Jenkins (Wales)

The best return by a Frenchman was 160 by Frédéric Michalak in 2003 and the best Irish haul was recorded the same year: 144 by David Humphreys.

Further to the father/two sons feature in a recent question, has any player appeared in Tests for England with two generations of the same close family - ie father and son? Paul Adams, England

The following have played in Tests for England with father and son Andy (2007) and Owen Farrell (2012): Toby Flood, Tom Palmer, Lee Mears, David Strettle and Matt Stevens.

James Haskell was first capped in 2007 and has recently played with Owen Farrell, but never overlapped on the field for England with the new Lions assistant coach.